Cannabis legalization in Uruguay – a paradigm change in drug policy?

Abstract

Uruguay became the first country to legalize, in 2013, the production and comercialization of products derived from cannabis. This step meant not only a departure from the national drug policy strategy in place for many years, but also a departure from the guidelines for drug policy defined in international treaties. This kind of change, some people say, may represent, a paradigm shift in Uruguayan drug policy. This article seeks to clarify the extent to which this conception is accurate and whether, in fact, it is possible to classify that measure as a paradigmatic change in the sense offered by science theorist Thomas Kuhn. The article shows that the cannabis legalization policy in Uruguay, although it presents a notable change in the direction of the previous policy, it is not broad enough to talk about a paradigm shift in drug policy.